Beharry U19 T20 Cricket… Abram Zuil, Essequibo Islands secure massive wins as national play-offs begin

Abram Zuil, Essequibo Islands secure massive wins as national play-offs begin
Eight secondary school cricket teams braved the sweltering heat at the Queen’s College Ground, Georgetown on Sunday as they began their campaigns in the national play-offs of the Beharry Under-19 National T20 tournament.
After winning their respective zones, it was now time for the top eight to face each other, setting up four enthralling encounters. When the dust settled, the likes of Justin Dowlin, Shivesh Bridgemohan, Devendra Samaroo and Jayhaden Rohlehr were the key players as Essequibo Islands Secondary, Abram Zuil Secondary, West Side High and Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) picked up victories in round one.
The day began with the Petra Organisation’s customary march-past exercise during which Beharry Group Marketing Manager Malissa Sylvester had some words of encouragement for the youngsters.
She shared, “This is a fundamental milestone in the journey of this tournament and you, the teams gathered here today, represent the winners of the individual zones. We want to encourage you to represent your schools, your community and yourselves with pride, courage team spirit and enjoy this tournament.
“Take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your talent, build your talent as well and use this as a platform to continue to grow in the sport,” she further encouraged.

In his remarks, Head of Allied Arts at the Ministry of Education (MoE), Nicholas Fraser articulated, “I’d like to encourage you to be well-rounded student-athletes. So, as well as we push on field, we would like to encourage you to also ensure that you push off the field, in the classrooms.”
“We really would like to see the best of you,” Fraser added.
Group A
Abram Zuil whip Covent Garden by 10 wickets
Covent Garden never stood a chance after crumbling under the pressure caused by the in-form trio of Shivesh Bridgemohan (3-7); Eshwar Tilak (2-3) and Rhonel Nurse (1-13), who have put their school on their backs throughout this competition.
Nazeem Lehan scored a gruelling 15 off 29 before he was dismissed alongside Abram Zuil’s next best scorer, Joshua Hoasyx (12), as their team folded for 64-8 after 20 overs.

In reply, the openers Ravid Fredericks, who continued his immaculate form by punching a 25-ball 41 not out (6×4 ,1×6), and his cousin Naveed Fredericks (7*) got their team to victory without any obstacles.

Essequibo Islands steamroll Queen’s College by 8 wickets
In another dominant win of the morning leg, Queen’s College suffered a huge loss at home after being restricted to 70 for the loss of nine wickets, with batting credit going to top-scorer Nathaniel Sukhnandan (22).
National youth all-rounder Justin Dowlin snared 3-10 with aid from Ezekiel Morgow (2-6) and Aarav Sukhram (2-12) to help set up a win for his team.
His team sped to victory in the eighth over, making 72-2, after Dowlin returned to slam five sixes and two fours in his 41 off 21 not out, backed by his national youth teammate Bhomesh Lall’s cameo of 17* off six balls (2×4, 1×6).

Group B
West Side High defeat St Stanislaus College by 54 runs
In a highly-competitive battle, West Side posted a formidable 162-6 thanks to a string of knocks from all-rounder Ricardo Danesar (38); Shaquan Ceres (33) and Davendra Samaroo (32).
Bowling for Saints was piloted by the pair of Noel Nihal (3-19) and Aden Coonjah (2-42), but their efforts were not backed by the batters, who essentially failed to get their team home and were kept to 108-10 after 20 overs.
Antonio Forde (29) and Brendan Arjune (28) tried, but could not get past the clinical bowling performance led by Davendra Samaroo (3-11); Nathan Karamchand (2-9) and Danesar (2-24).

Berbice Educational Institute get past Annandale Secondary by 35 runs
Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) defeated Annandale Secondary by 35 runs after posting 150-6 from their full overs, with opener Lemuel Dejonge stroking a classy 50 off 27 balls with four fours and four sixes.
Luke Amsterdam (34) and Jayhaden Rohlehr (16) provided support to Dejonge, as Kevin Singh (2-24) and Sanjay Dindyal (2-25) led the bowling for Annandale, who scratched on their way to 115-7.
Joshua Bollers hit a defiant 42 not out with help from Reul Dindyal (35), but it was not enough to stop Rohlehr, who came back with the ball to snare 3-16 alongside Nicquan Fraser (2-12).